Mar 12:
Find out more about how the big battle between hydrogen and electric cars are being fought between Elon Musk (Tesla) on one hand and Takahiro Hachigo of Honda and Akio Toyoda of Toyota on the other.8The big advantage for hydrogen cars is that can be refuelled within 5 minutes. At best, the electric cars require 9 times longer charging time from an almost empty to a full battery. A Tesla Supercharger gives about 10 km per minute.8The surprising but unnoticed fact is that hydrogen cars already have longer range, faster refuelling (5 minutes) and lower price than the most high performance electric vehicles.8Next year's hydrogen-powered cars are announced to get a longer range and lower price than today's8Hydrogen refueling needs huge investments but technological advancements are making this easier than before. Mass production of electrolytic hydrogen packs in container modules is likely to bring down the cost of setting up dispensing station significantly.8A 800 km hydrogen powered train is already working in Europe. These trains can change the entire electric auto dynamics in the rail industry. It is possible that eventually, if these trains gain momentum, India's great rail electrification infrastrucutre -- more of which is being built now -- will become redundant.8The low weight associated with a relatively high tolerance for the hydrogen tank volume, reduced noise and reduced contaminants in water and air should make hydrogen and fuel cell-powered boats an interesting option.8Hydrogen fuel cells provide approximately 3 times more energy/kg than batteries and it is more realistic to operate an aircraft with hydrogen and fuel cells than with battery. Hypersonic jet planes can be powered by hydrogen.8Other kinds of interesting options are coming up. For wind power, diurnal variation is buffered with batteries, a couple of days variation with pumped hydropower and several weeks with electrolytic hydrogen. Pilot projects are being launch with furious rapidity around the world to store spare electricity in hydrogen and to convert electricity into chemicals and petrochemicals.Click on Reports for more